Rain

Rain, midnight rain, nothing but the wild rain

On this bleak hut, and solitude, and me

Remembering again that I shall die

And neither hear the rain nor give it thanks

For washing me cleaner than I have been

Since I was born into this solitude.

~Edward Thomas (1878-1917)

Okay, so I'm not really this depressed. However, rain has been the word of the week so far and this is an excerpt from a poem, entitled "Rain" in fact, which is one of our reading assignments for today. It is a bit melancholy sitting at my window and watching the rain come down while reading this morose poem. Nevertheless, my cup of hot tea is warming me up and Mom's apple crumble with custard was a perfect finish to this wet day.

I am hoping that the sun will come out tomorrow, as Oxford is usually fairly sunny during the summer. In fact, July and August are typically the least rainy months of the year. Thankfully this constant drizzle (and occasional downpour) has yet to get me down. I think the extra hours of daylight may be helping with that.

So far my days have been long and work-filled. Today I read for more than five hours in order to complete our assignment for tomorrow. I'm hopeful that our reading assignments will decrease, especially when the weather clears up. And who knows, maybe I'll actually speak in class tomorrow as that hasn't happened yet. Whoops!

But now, with the readings finished, tea in hand and the soft patter of rain against the window pane, it's time to relax!